Displaying 1 - 10 of 240
Abstract
Background
Media stories over the past decade have sensationalized cases of intercountry adoption discontinuity, a phenomenon largely missing from the research literature.
Objective
This study sought to understand how intercountry adoptees with adoption discontinuity histories experience legal, relational, and residential permanency losses through the framework of ambiguous loss and trauma.
Participants and setting
Twenty intercountry adoptees in the United States who experienced adoption discontinuity as minor children.
Methods
Participants were recruited…
Abstract
Children who have been adopted internationally often exhibit persistent behavior problems. The current study assessed the efficacy of the Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up intervention (ABC; Dozier & Bernard, 2019) for reducing behavior problems in 122 children adopted internationally. Behavior problems were measured via parent-report using the Brief Infant Toddler Social Emotional Assessment at a pre-intervention visit and after the intervention when children were between 18 and 36 months.…
Abstract
Many children who experience serious adversity with their birth family have to be placed in family-based alternatives, such as foster care, or adoption. Caregivers and parents are then expected to show these children nurturing patterns of relating to others through affectionate and stimulating interactions. These are essential for establishing positive bonds within new families. In the present study, we explored the adult-child interactions that took place in 116 families from Spain: 28 long-term non-kin foster families, 34 adoptive families, and a community comparison group made…
Abstract
This study explores issues on post-adoption services in intercountry adoptions based on the perspectives of adoption professionals from Taiwan and Australia. Findings revealed that both birth and adoptive families identify service needs for material and emotional support and connection after the adoption process is finalized. However, the current lack of government funding for post-adoption services result in gaps in service delivery. Adoption agencies experience challenges in funding and balancing the interests of the child and the two families. Implications for practice and…
Abstract
In 2018, the Ethiopian Parliament closed its intercountry adoption program. Momentum to end the program followed reports of adoption-related exploitation including the abduction and sale of children, falsification of documentation, bribing of officials, inaccurate testimonies, and false promises to birth families. The Ethiopian Parliament also cited concerns over the identity and psychological problems of adoptees as contributing factors to the ban. This paper explores how adoptive parents, with knowledge of exploitation in their own adoptions, are responding emotionally and…
Abstract
Background
Children adopted from foster care are at heightened risk for emotional and behavioral challenges, potentially due to early trauma exposure and related risk factors. Research has demonstrated that adoptees with greater pre-adoptive risk exhibit higher rates of internalizing and externalizing problems across childhood and into adulthood. However, these studies have been limited by their use of individual risk factors or sum scores of cumulative risk and their measurement of internalizing and externalizing behaviors separately.
Objective
The current study aimed to…
Abstract
Background
Children adopted from foster care are at heightened risk for emotional and behavioral challenges, potentially due to early trauma exposure and related risk factors. Research has demonstrated that adoptees with greater pre-adoptive risk exhibit higher rates of internalizing and externalizing problems across childhood and into adulthood. However, these studies have been limited by their use of individual risk factors or sum scores of cumulative risk and their measurement of internalizing and externalizing behaviors separately.
Objective
The current study aimed to…
ABSTRACT
This article attempts to initiate a critical dialogue on the politics of love and attachment by investigating the way in which the concept of attachment governs the field of transnational adoption. We take our starting point in an analysis of a collection of background articles, teaching materials, and interviews produced by child psychologists as well as instructions to and testimonies from adopters. Reading the material through Sara Ahmed’s notion of affective orientation and Lauren Berlant’s critical deconstruction of love, we argue that the texts popularize…
Abstract
Intercountry adoptees face many challenges in developing their identity and achieving a sense of belonging in post-assimilation Australia. This study uses a constructivist approach to analyse narrative interviews with a sample of Taiwanese intercountry adoptees in Australia ranging in age from early to middle adulthood. Social identity theory and postcolonial theory are used to frame thematic findings about the impact of micro, meso and macro influences on identity development and belonging. The article concludes with discussion of the importance of analysing the impact of…
Abstract
Children from some black and minority ethnic (BME) backgrounds are routinely placed with substitute carers who do not match their cultural, linguistic, religious and ethnic backgrounds. The shortage of foster carers and adopters of specific backgrounds means that the demand in the care population often outweighs the availability of matched placement options. While the shortages of BME foster carers and adopters are widely recognised, there is virtually no research into the barriers faced by specific BME groups, so there are no informed recruitment strategies to increase the pool…